OUR STORY

A long Jesuit tradition seeks the formation of leaders to change the world

Fr. John Dardis SJ, the former president of the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials

We believe that Europe will grow into an ever-stronger union of hearts and minds. This will be accomplished in part through the professional training of committed Europeans to guide our European society with political virtue and Christian principles. A long Jesuit tradition seeks the formation of leaders to change the world. Fr. John Dardis SJ, the former president of the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials (JCEP), together with Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the former president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the E.U. (COMECE), took the initiative to launch a programme that would contribute to the building of Europe. In 2017, the Jesuit Provincials of Europe and the Near East, together with their new President Fr. Franck Janin SJ, entrusted their vision to Fr. Peter Rožič SJ, the new director of the Jesuit European Social Centre (JESC), to develop an institutional home for such a programme. Fr. Rožič won the support of Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ from Luxembourg, the actual president of COMECE, and of the Spanish, German, Italian, Croatian and other Bishop conferences. Since August 2019, Botond Feledy, former rector of St. Ignatius Jesuit College in Budapest, is now in charge of the management of the programme as Secretary for Leadership at JESC. The ELP project enhances leadership values and skills through a comprehensive formation experience that is offered to current and emerging leaders. It combines the elements of political training, insight into leadership experience through testimonies of current and former leaders, community building, walking with the poor and in all that, finding the way to God. The Programme’s final aim is no less than to help reform the spiritual, social and political life in Europe, reorienting it towards an ever-greater quest for the common good.

About ELP

ELP is an international, voluntary, non-governmental, non-profit organization that provides intercultural learning opportunities to help people develop the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to create a more just and peaceful world.

Contact Us

To speak with an ELP Representative: email: info@elp-jescYou can find us at 51 Rue du Cornet – 1040, Bruxelles.